kleeblatt

Just reading the above posts proves how complicated and time-consuming planning a trip abroad can be.

If you enjoy the planning of a trip and don't mind putting in lots of time to sift through the information available and do the on-line reservations (which aren't always as easy as some make it out to be), then you won't need a travel agent.

If you find all of this overwhelming, please don't hesitate to use a travel agent. They're quite often good people who enjoy their job and know the particularities of planning a trip abroad.

Whatever you do, make sure it's right for you.

propita

Oh, I know no non-stops from FAT to almost anywhere. I must not be clear in my typing. All clear in my head, you know?

Almost all $ savings driving to LAX or SFO is eaten by gas and shuttle/parking--not to mention time involved. So we don't have a problem leaving from FAT.

Since I'm at home, I have time to research all this. I'm very lucky with that. I like the Knopf books on the trip because the map sections fold up and I only have to use part of the book at a time. I use post-it flags for places of interest and likely restaurants, that way, no matter where we are, we have an idea what's there instead of "I'm hungry, lets find a place at random" although we still can do that if we choose.

I did that in Hawaii to mark things like that, Costco for gas, and shops in downtown. Very handy without being permanent.

sofarsogood

Two useful sites for visiting London are

the official visitors' website www.visitlondon.com/

and Time Out www.timeout.com/london

So much information, so little time…

propita

Thanks for the info and the websites. I'd come across a number of them in the past few months already.

As for hotels, we're hoping for under--maybe wee under--$200/nite. As my husband points out, all we want is a place that's clean and relatively quiet. It's just for sleeping and showering, the city is the enjoyment. When we were in NYC, the daily 7am start of construction was no problem for us, neither was the fire station across the street. So when I type "quiet," I don't mean "silent." We just don't want noisy neighbors pounding around or a club downstairs or next door.

I'll come up with more questions as I go. Enthusiasm and time come and go.

janisj

$200 is fine for London. That is around £125 which will get you a decent room in MANY tourist class hotels. Or you can bid priceline and get a legit 4 star property for near that (but w/ taxes and fees the £125 on priceline will be a bit north of £140.

Check out B&B Belgravia - really excellent central location, extremely convenient for transport and very quiet. http://www.bb-belgravia.com

Or you could easily find an apartment w/i your budget

propita

Well, I'm starting to read lots of other threads here about places to stay on London. Hubby was told of Premier Inns, and I've seen it mentioned in a number of threads. Yes, we're looking pretty low in cost. I also see that somewhere around Euston or Holbron would be very convenient for our coming from Heathrow and gong on the Eurostar to Paris. So I guess we'll be focusing on those areas.

- Any suggestions on places in those areas would be helpful.

Unfortunately, I can't get Hubby to nail down actual departure dates! Or exactly how long in each city. I'm thinking easily six/seven days in each city. He says we have time, but it'd be easier to have actual dates, you know?

Anyway, I have my Knopf map guide (I like their books, they fit in a pocket and are informative) and am noting places we want to go, so we won't backtrack too much. All the usual tourist places, and two day trips: Oxford and Harry Potter. I think that, in general, we won't be overloaded, but we want to take our time, I case of any problems and so that things aren't ALL scheduled, but that we'll have opportunities to just play it by ear.

- Any suggestions for other day trips?

When we went to NYC for 4 days, we bought a weeklong subway pass and used the mess outta that despite all our walking. We're thinking of getting the weeklong pass here, too, as we calculated that an average of 3 trips/day pays for it. This way we'd have the freedom to go wherever, whenever.

- Any strong reasons why we shouldn't get a weeklong pass?


About Paris: I've pretty much talked Hubby out of Disneyland Paris, based on threads here and my own Mother and sister's reports of their non-US-Disney attitudes. While we are big Disney fans, I think I'd rather see France. We want to see Versailles. I know some people can go through in a couple of hours, but we want to take our time and not rush...more experience it than "If it's Tuesday this must be Belgium" type of vacation.

- Any suggestions for places to stay in Paris?

- Any suggestions for day trips, besides Versailles?

Thanks all!

welltraveledbrit

Propita,
You've got some great advice already and I can only second what has been said about the open jaw and buying the Eurostar tickets in advance. It's great fun to take the train, also a number of museums offer half price admission with your Eurostar tickets so don't bin them! We used this deal at an exhibit at the British Library recently and it works!
http://www.eurostar.com/be-en/eurost...1#.UiRKseB1N0c
If you're flying into London and out of Paris (which will avoid the London airport tax as someone mentioned above) the same deal works in France...
http://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/eurost...s#.UiRLNOB1N0c

In terms of day trips from London I wouldn't do more than two if you're there for 6-7 days. There's lots to see in London itself. if you're staying for 7 days in either Paris or London you could look at renting an apartment which would give you more space.

In terms of transport in London you'll probably need to get an Oyster card. It's the cheapest/most efficient way to pay on the buses and underground. If you look for it in the search function above you'll find everything you need to know about it!

In terms of hotels it's hard to suggest anything when talking in generalities. You looking a long way in advance so at this stage I wouldn't book anything that wasn't cancelable in case you change your mind. Also I wouldn't pick a place merely for convenience coming and going, particularly on a 6-7 night stay. IWhen you do go to buy the hotel I always google for coupon codes which can give you an extra 15-20% off with Orbitz.

Have a look at Paris Walks and London Walks which will give you an idea of the places to see and the range of topics to explore.

In London do have a meal or two in one of the older pubs. I realize you don't drink but pubs aren't just bars and they're very much part of the London experience.

There is so much info on Paris right here on Fodors, but if you want some photos here you'll find lots of Paris posts and recommendations on my blog.
http://somuchmoretosee.blogspot.com/search/label/Paris

Hope this helps!

bilboburgler

Days out from either city depends on your interests. You don't drink so that kills the winery options (of which there are lots) Versailles and Giverney are really for garden lovers. Oxford or Cambridge is a draw for Harry Potter, any number of university films, old buildings and fine museums and the odd punt. Bath is a bit dull but offers you a lot of fine stone and Roman baths. Salisbury and Stonehenge offers you the most delightful cathedral in Europe and a truely ancient monument.

So it all depends on what you want to see and do

bilboburgler

Just a thought on Premiertravel inns they normally have a deal on that if you don't get a good night's sleep you don't have to pay. I've used them a lot for business travel and while they lack all the marble nonsense in the foyer and they don't have bellhops (actually I don't know what a bellhop is but if I saw one I guess I would) or doormen or people who check your hat in or all the other nonsense they do have sensible check in staff who get the process done fast and will check you out at 3 in the morning if that is what you want. If you are staying for a reasonable period google the hotel to see if there is an end that will not be too noisy and ask for an end of corridor room (as normal I guess for most hotels to get away from the tramp of guests).

propita

Thanks all!

I have been scavenging threads here under search terms "London" and "Paris," so please don't think that I'm looking only at this one thread!

Open jaw flights are a given. We did that going to the East Coast and it worked wonderfully--and by looking around and booking each flight separately, I saved $800! I got the info for an open jaw flight and then for separate one-way flights, and literally put them next to each other (big computer screen allows this). I had Hubby check me--did I have everything for two people, was I leaving anything out, etc. All good, and a $800 difference between open jaw and one-ways.

I had noticed comments and hyperlinks about 2-for-1 in Paris on the eurostar and am getting that info.

I have MANY sites bookmarked. It's time to start preliminary organization of them all. Yeah, I'm a bit OCD, but organization of info helps when you otherwise have 50+ bookmarks about London food, sites, etc.

I like to have a master page for each city, with hyperlinks for the transportation, food, places, etc websites--MANY hyperlinks. Yes, it takes work, but it's part of my research in learning where we want to go. And when Hubby wants to see things, all he has to do is hit the hyperlinks, so I'm pre-empting his complaints. When he tried to start looking things up on his own, he realized the time it took to do this, so I scored points there, too! We may not hit everything on our list, but that's not the point, we like having the option to go somewhere, and to have the option, we have to know it's there.

Christina

US$200 is about 150 euro, and you can get a nice 2* hotel in central Paris for that (in the expensive areas) or perhaps a 3* in the outer areas. It's really rather early to book,anyway, some hotels won't book that far out, particularly when it is another year. And you can't book if you don't know your dates, anyway.

FOr example, here is a 2* some Fodorites like in St Germain, a very convenient and central area, and their doubles a step up from the cheapest are 148 euro right now, about right. http://www.hotelclementparis.com/

This is a nice 3* in the Latin Qtr that will book that far out, but their rates are a bit higher (around 187 for a std double).

Well, there are tons of hotels in Paris to choose from, obviously, so it's kind of hard to choose one with no parameters other than budget and no dates. But you shouldn't have a problem getting a 2* for 150 euro next Spring. From your description, a 2* hotel should be fine and in April-May you wouldn't need A/C, either. The Latin Qtr will be cheaper than St Germain, and some hotels in the 7th arr (look around metro Ecole Militaire) are better value, also. This hotel is in a little funkier area in the Latin Quarter near rue Mouffetard which I personally like and is about your budget, also. http://www.hotel-grandes-ecoles.com/

uhoh_busted

We spent a week in London and a week in Paris -- well now it is probably about 12-13 years ago -- and found it to be just the right amount of time. I remember we left on April 15, and went to London first. We did a daytrip from London to Cambridge, met up with a friend twice in London, went to a show. I think I had a book of literary "walks" which we used for a couple of days. Go to the Tower of London and take the tour with the Beefeater (? all I can think of is Gilbert & Sullivan's Yeoman of the Guard at the moment). We went to a fabulous candlelight spring concert of chamber music at St Martins in the Field (make reservations ahead of time...it is extraordinary.) There are so many super places to visit. DO, as someone above suggested, check out LondonWalks. (And then when in Paris, ParisWalks. They are wonderful and you usually are with a small group of folks with whom it is fun to talk and share the experience.)

Has the EuroStar come up with a cheaper one-way fare since way back then, when we bought a round-trip in advance at considerable savings, and just didn't tell them we weren't using the return? Traveling city center to city center is SUCH a good experience, and saves time over having to get out of the city to one airport, then into the other from the other airport. Plus it is a nice train.

There are several long threads here on Paris hotels in your price range. We have stayed several places in the Marais, which is my favorite although I also like the 11th Arr for sentimental reasons while it isn't as popular here, and the 7th on the Left bank. Paris is an easy city to get around, and you will enjoy it. Every time we go back, there is more English spoken...which is a bit sad, but the world has gets smaller every year.

Good daytrips in April/May from Paris would be Giverny (Monet's beautiful garden home), Versailles, or Chartres. For a first trip, I would probably only chose one daytrip out of Paris. You will be back, and there is so much to see without traveling outside the city.

AmyB81

Just a comment on the airfare part.

I live in the Bay and while I can get to SFO easily enough, I always do multiple searches. One for SFO and one for SJC (my local airport). I also check for flying on T/W vs the weekend if I have the flexibility so I can take advantage of potential savings.

Since it takes about $15 plus 2 hrs to take the train to SFO I always factor that into my evaluation of the value. Usually a difference of up to $100 is enough to balance out the $70 savings to not have to spend hours on the train at the beginning and end of my trip.

kerouac

I stayed at the Ibis next to Euston station in London and thought it was brilliant in May. And it had the best Ibis buffet breakfast that I have ever eaten.

propita

Thanks again everyone!

I will likely start at thread in a few months about hotels when we have dates nailed down. We DO have an idea, most likely leave here Apr 29, eurostar around May 7, 8, or 9, leave Paris around the 15th.

For London: Lots of walking! A day trip to Oxford. A half-day(?) at Harry Potter Studio. A show or two or so. More walking. I'm learning where places are. Hubby has it in his mind to go to Harrods a number of times. Something about seeing the food. When he finds a place he likes, he likes to repeat visit.

And I've read about a St. John restaurant that has a good bone marrow dish. I love roast bone marrow and heartily recommend the dish at LA's Getty Museum restaurant. Delicious and a great price for so much food! I had to give Hubby about 1/3 of it!

michele_d

The food section of Harrods is interesting to see. We also loved the antique maps on one of the upper levels. Very cool. It is a fun place to roam around, even if you don't buy anything.